Plot Summary, Synopsis, Review: IMDb -
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- vampress.net: «After
Hammer Studios' tremendous success with The Curse of Frankenstein, they
struck a deal to adapt Universal's catalog of classics and set their sights
first on Dracula. Christopher Lee removes the monstrous makeup from the earlier
film and makes his entrance as an elegant, confident, altogether seductive
Dracula, a frightening figure of flashing eyes and erotic allure. Peter Cushing,
with his hawklike profile and piercing eyes, turns his rationalist intensity to
Van Helsing: man of science as crusading vampire hunter. Director Terence Fisher
and screenwriter Jimmy Sangster make a few changes to Bram Stoker's tale; gone
are Renfield, Transylvania, howling wolves, and transformations into bats. The
Count is an old-world aristocrat firmly ensconced in a castle in England and Van
Helsing a crusading vampire hunter who plots his demise with an elaborate plan.
This is the first film to really mine the erotic appeal of vampires: Dracula
seduces Mina and Lucy like a devil tempting good to the dark side through
sex--more suggestive than explicit, but daring for 1958. Lee is electric as the
ferocious Count, despite his limited screen time, and Cushing turns Van Helsing
into a virtual swashbuckler of a hero, leaping and diving through the climax
like an aging action hero. Cushing reprises his role in The Brides of Dracula, while Lee
absented himself from the series until 1966's Dracula: Prince of Darkness» (Sean
Axmaker).